Deep Into Daylight Savings

And now for something completely different, a song:

“If I could sing a tune
About a Strawberry Moon,
I’d sing it in June,
And I’d sound like a loon…”

I went back to East Reservoir in Lakewood, Colorado, but for the first time in years, I visited at sunset to catch the rising of the “Strawberry Moon.” But before that happened, there was still a lot to see in a whole, new, light.

One short bike ride in the late afternoon up from Bear Valley later, I was flying my drones in the sky above East Reservoir in high summer. While there was some atmospheric haze, the vistas went on and on, like in the 180° panorama that follows.

I was lucky that the late afternoon was clear to the west. There were some clouds blocking the moonrise, but a glorious sunset transformed the landscape.

And now for the star, er, satellite of the show: the Moon! It’s not quite full, but 97% of the way there, at least. The actual full moon had yet to peak, but if I time it right, I can catch both the sun and the moon together in the HIGH SKY!

At the same time the moon was rising, the sun was setting. I don’t often get out for sunsets, but the day before the full “Strawberry Moon” was worth giving it a try. That is, the moon rises and sets one hour later each day. The day before the full moon means that the moon anticipates the sunset and when it rises, it shares the sky with the sun in opposition.

Of course, from this side of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, the sun sets early. In fact, the closer one gets to the foothills, the earlier the sun sets behind them! Along with its reflection in East Reservoir, the moon floated above the remnants of afternoon storms. The trails were dry, and there had been little rainfall on that day. But it caused a delay in the appearance of the moon!

As it turned out, the moon can be seen as a small dot in the lower left-of-center in the following panorama. As mentioned previously, if timed right, one can catch both the sun and moon in the sky nearly as far apart as possible.

As an aside, it was recently reported that there was more rainfall in Denver for the month of May than fell in Seattle, Washington! The water level in the pond at East Reservoir was still a few feet shy of last year’s water level, but some of the reeds along the banks have returned.

And with the returning of the reeds, there was also a return of the insects. Of course, from the distance and field of view of the drone, they’re so small, it’s like they don’t even exist!

However…

Riding home from taking these photos, I was struck by how friendly people were. When I’m out hiking or biking, I always wave to people I meet. Perhaps being friendly makes the ride and the journey more fun, and also helps to catch people’s eye in case their attention has wandered. As it got darker, more and more of the other bicyclists and folks out walking their dogs were waving at me—even before I had a chance to—

Oh, wait.

It wasn’t that they were waving. I figured out that these people were swatting at bugs, the air was so thick with them. I had planned for as much, wearing my goggles instead of just sunglasses while I rode the trail at dusk. Even then, gnats got in my eyes anyways, and I don’t want to think about how many insects I likely swallowed.

I’m allowing for “likely” as that gives me some deniability in order to persuade myself to ride at dusk again! And I also like to think that some of those other swats turned, mid-swipe, into a friendly wave. However, I couldn’t really see because of the bugs getting in my eyes.

Thanks for reading all the way to the end!